ActionSA slams NPA for failing to successfully prosecute those implicated in state capture

CAPE TOWN - With this week marking three years since former Chief Justice Raymond Zondo handed over the last chapters of the state capture commission of inquiry report to the president, ActionSA has slammed the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) for failing to successfully prosecute those implicated.

NPA head Shamila Batohi is under pressure from opposition parties to quit the job over botched state capture cases and extradition matters.

Batohi will be before Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) on Wednesday to provide a status update of corruption prosecutions.

ALSO READ:

• Batohi adamant she won’t resign despite repeated calls for her head by opposition parties

• Ramaphosa announces meeting with NPA boss to clear the air about perceived knots

Meanwhile, ActionSA said it was planning to stage a protest in Pretoria on Thursday to call for her removal.

ActionSA's parliamentary leader, Athol Trollip, said that the irregular handling of an extradition linked to the asbestos corruption case in the Free State was not an isolated blunder but a pattern.

"There is supposed to be a war against corruption in this country. Nobody has seen one shot fired and the blame must be laid at the door of the NPA and the national director of public prosecutions."

He said his party would not be intimidated by former executives implicated in the state capture project who now served in the parliamentary benches as MPs of the MK Party.

"They’re defending themselves rather than being an effective opposition. They defend themselves in portfolio committees on matters under serious discussion. We are not going to be threatened by gangsters in this Parliament."

The party said it would be introducing a zero tolerance corruption bill later this year to plug the gaps in enforcement and deterrence in the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act.